The Future Is Now: Turning Your Home Into A Smart House

For those of us born before the invention of the smart devices, being able to live in a house where you can control the lights with your voice or lock your front door from another country would have seemed like something from an episode of Star Trek. But oh what a time to be alive! The future is now and with the right tech we CAN turn on our house lights with our voice, lock our doors miles away from our homes, and control countless devices with the touch of a touchscreen. Taking your home into the future is easy with smart house technology and devices.

Strong Wi-Fi Is Key

Without a strong Wi-Fi connection, smart devices aren’t so smart. If your Wi-Fi can’t reach certain rooms of your home, or runs slowly, your smart devices either won’t work or won’t work very well. Investing in a good router can make all the difference and the eero TrueMesh router is one of the best. The eero ensures fast speed and full coverage by sending Wi-Fi signals in multiple directions, even around obstacles (like walls) that often stop other Wi-Fi routers.

Upgrade to Smart Appliances

Of course, adding smart appliances is one of the easiest ways to transform your boring home into the smart home of the future. Upgrading to smart appliances lets you automate chores, like laundry and grocery shopping, to make your life easier.

Consider the Whirlpool’s Smart Top Load washer to remotely stop and start washes through the Whirlpool app, or a smart refrigerator to bring your kitchen into the future. The Samsung Family Hub refrigerators have an in-door touchscreen where you can create shopping lists, order groceries, send messages to your friend’s and family’s phones, or even stream music.

Smart Tech Goes Beyond Appliances

Smart devices go beyond basic appliances to include things like door locks, lights, and thermostats so you can control or automate just about every aspect of your home. Smart locks, like the August smart lock, let you lock and unlock connected doors through an iOS or Android device. With a smart lock, you’ll never have to wonder if you remembered to lock the door.

Smart lighting is another essential for any smart home. Philips Hue lights are easy to install, simply screw the Hue bulbs into your light fixtures, plug in the smart bridge, download the app, and you’ll be able to control the lights in your house from the comfort of your bed or while you’re away on vacation.

Give your thermostat some brains with a Nest Thermostat. The Nest Thermostat is self-regulating, turning itself down when you’re away, helping to save energy and money. Nest allows users to control their thermostat from anywhere with a simple, easy to use app.

Establish a Command Center

Any truly smart house needs a good “command center” for controlling all devices from one central hub. One of the best options out there is the Amazon Echo, a voice activated speaker that lets you simply say a command to control any connected device. Amazon Echo is compatible with a wide variety of smart devices, including Philips Hue, Nest, and Samsung SmartThings.

Google Home is another option in voice activated speakers that does much more than play music. Google Home, like Amazon Echo, allows you to easily control connected devices anywhere in your home with just your voice.

Whether you decide to upgrade everything in your home to a smart option or just a few things, you can enjoy the futuristic home you could have only dreamed of as a kid. What are some of your favorite smart home devices?